


Our Last Chance Together

by Elphabuddy



Category: Mean Girls - Richmond/Benjamin/Fey
Genre: Bonding Time, Cottage getaway, F/F, F/M, Last Hurrah, Mutual Pining, Swimming, Vacation, lake
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:21:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28328910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elphabuddy/pseuds/Elphabuddy
Summary: Are you free the first week of August?” Janis asks.“Why?” Regina whines.“Are you free the first week of August?”“Why, Janis?”“Answer my question and maybe I’ll answer yours.”
Relationships: Cady Heron/Aaron Samuels, Karen Smith/Gretchen Wieners, Regina George/Janis Sarkisian
Comments: 5
Kudos: 26
Collections: 2020 AW Gift Exchange





	Our Last Chance Together

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lookagingerpanda](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lookagingerpanda/gifts).



> Merry Christmas, Amanda. It has been a huge honor of mine to write this for you and it’s been an even bigger honor becoming your friend. Love you lots!

It’s not yet 5 in the morning when Regina’s phone starts ringing. She peeks out from under the covers, still mostly asleep. She’s knows that there’s only one person dumb enough to call her at this hour. She yawns as she taps answers and places her phone against her face. “This better be good,” she grumbles.

“It is. Are you free the first week of August?” Janis asks.

“Why?” Regina whines.

“Are you free the first week of August?”

“Why, Janis?”

“Answer my question and maybe I’ll answer yours.”

She considers hanging up and dealing with her in the morning. She would if she wasn’t certain that Janis would just come over to knock on her window and bug her until she gets her answer.

“Fine. Yes. I’m free that week. Why do you want to know?”

“Cool. You remember how I used to go to that little cottage in Michigan with my family every year?”

“Yeah. What about it?”

“Dam, Caddy, Aaron, and I are doing a last hurrah thing and we were thinking… It is a last hurrah and there is going to be enough space for at least 3 more people,” Janis says slowly.

Regina fights against the grin forming on her face. It’s foolish. They already made up. She knows they’re on good terms but Janis is actually inviting her along on something big.

She clears her throat to bring back an indifferent inflection. “And you want me to be there?”

“Gretchen and Karen too but yes. And I won’t make you go or whatever if this sounds boring or awful. I just wanted to offer it to you in case you did.”

It occurs to Regina just how timid Janis’s voice has gotten. She’s normally so bold and daring but she almost sounds worried.

“How many days should I pack for?” Regina asks.

Janis cackles excitedly. “The full week. You’re really doing this?”

“I believe I am. No promises on the other 2 but they probably will want to regardless of what I answered.”

“Ok. Sick.”

“And please don’t call Gretchen until after 8. She struggles with staying asleep. There’s a good chance that you’ll wake her up for the day,” Regina sighs.

“Softie,” Janis teases.

“Wake her up earlier than she has to be up and I’ll end you.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Can I at least call Karen then?”

“No! Why and how the fuck are you so awake?”

“I’m not certain but I suspect the pot of coffee at 2 might have something to do with it,” Janis says.

Regina laughs into an annoyed groan. “Why are you like this?”

“You know you love it,” Janis says.

“I’d love it more if you slept like a normal person and didn’t wake me up at obscene hours to talk about stuff that can wait until we’re both up,” Regina retorts.

“But this couldn’t wait.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s you,” Janis answers, her voice getting timid again.

Regina sits up and turns her light on. She grabs a notebook, clicking a pen repeatedly to calm herself down a bit. She sighs, tapping the end on the paper. “Other than clothes, what else will I need?”

“I’m so glad you asked,” Janis replies.

***

Gretchen and Karen agree so they add them in on the plans. They talk out the car situation now that there’s double the people. Janis and Damian will take her truck since it does have a lot of room for suitcases while Gretchen will drive her Jeep with everyone else.

Since the trip up is 4 hours, they meet up at Janis’s at 7. Cady and Aaron bring donuts for breakfast while Gretchen brings muffins to divvy up before they leave. Karen calls shotgun to no one’s surprise but they come up with an agreement for music so all passengers get an hour of their music.

Cady passes out on Aaron’s shoulder after her turn for music is over. She had been up most of the night, sending near constant texts to their group chat, hyping herself up for everything and making sure that she had necessary everything packed so she’s unsurprisingly dead tired. He wraps his arm around her shoulder protectively. “Didn’t expect you to say yes,” he says to Regina quietly.

“Is this a compliment or insult? Because I get it either way, I just want to be clear,” she says snippily.

Aaron chuckles. “It’s a good thing. I wanted you along.”

“Did anyone not want me? It’s ok if it’s a yes. I won’t be angry. I’d just like to know going into the rest of the week,” she says.

“No one here,” he says, shrugging slightly before remembering Cady.

“Meaning?”

“Cady’s parents are the only ones that think that you should have been invited. I know Janis’s were very much less than pleased when they found out. Mr. Sarkisian actually asked Cady why she put her up to this despite it being Janis’s idea to invite you guys. I know they want to protect her but most of us are 18 and this is our trip,” he says.

“You’re 19,” Regina says.

“Hence the most of us instead of all of us,” he says.

Regina nods. “I guess I can’t blame them. I’ve done some shit,” she murmurs.

“You’ve grown a lot too,” he says.

Regina repositions herself in the seat. Her back is getting a bit tense, not that she’ll admit to it to anyone outside of her thoughts. “Thank you,” she whispers.

Aaron nudges her shoulder playfully with the hand that isn’t around his girlfriend. She chuckles to herself and glances out the window, watching the world pass by. As she lets her mind wander, something strikes her from that conversation. “Wait. Janis was the one that came up with inviting me?”

“I mean, all of us want you here but she’s the one that brought it up. Wasn’t she the one that asked you?” Aaron asks.

“Yeah, but I thought she drew the short straw on who had to invite me. She really wanted me to come to her special memory bomb cottage without any sort of arm twisting?”

“Trust me, if she didn’t want you here, you’d be punted out of this car instantly and she’d be the one that did it.” 

Regina huffs, smiling slightly. “Point taken.”

Aaron rests against Cady while Regina leans against the door, propping her head on her hand. The view is filled with orchards and quint, small towns that she tries to read all the names to unsuccessfully.

At around 3 hours into the drive, Gretchen pauses the music. “What the hell are they doing?” she asks, turning off the main road.

Janis’s truck is parked in a gravel lot and the 2 teens in that vehicle bound out towards a robin blue rundown shack next to where they parked. Gretchen rolls down her window. “Hey! Is everything alright?” she calls out to them.

Janis motions for them to follow. Gretchen shakes her head as she parks in the freshly disturbed dirt next to Janis’s truck. Aaron wakes Cady up. “Where are we?” she mumbles.

“We aren’t sure but Janis knows,” Aaron replies.

It’s a bakery, much cozier on the inside than the outside. The air smells inviting and sweet. Rows of baked goods are tightly packed to fit in the tinier than usual space that feels even more crowded with the amount of people inside the building.

“Ok so tradition is that we get two things and they can be eaten at any time but we don’t come back until the ride home. Feel free to say fuck that, though. Your money, your rules,” Janis says to the group.

Everyone sticks to the 2 baked goods rule. What Janis hadn’t added in her spiel was that anything over tradition was on them but at or under the limit she gave was on her.

They try to fight it but Janis has already paid it before they can even open their mouths, insisting that the grocery will be evenly split and if or when they eat out, that everyone is getting their own.

They pile back into their vehicles and they’re on their way again.

It’s another half hour until they get there. There are 3 cabins in a row and a house at the very end of it all with multiple wind chimes and other trinkets hanging off of it.

There’s a forest on the other side of the unpaved dirt trail leading in, a pile of firewood before the trees. Janis pulls into the grass in front of the last cabin in line which has a black metal 1 on it.

Gretchen parks next to her, putting a lake into view. Near the water, there’s a tree with a rope hang off of it. A white dock stretches out into the water with boats tied to them. There’s a square of floating wood a little past where the docks end.

On the land leading towards the lake, there’s a bench and a few green plastic lawn chairs near a fire pit to the left and a wooden swing set attached to a yellow slide on the right.

The cottages are fairly plain from the exterior, beige cream siding with a light brown roof. The only pop of color to the building is the ocean blue that’s peeling off of rickety stairs, leading out the second door attached to the back of the cabin.

Janis is already out of her truck, walking to the house. She stops by Gretchen’s window and knocks. Gretchen rolls it down. “Yes?”

“I’m getting the keys. Feel free to get out and find your shit or check out the lake. I shouldn’t be super long,” Janis says.

Karen shoots like a bolt of lightning out of the car, down the hill. Gretchen yanks the keys out of the ignition, tossing them to the passenger’s seat, chasing after her.

Gretchen manages to catch her right when she grabs the rope, keeping her from jumping in the water fully dressed in her regular clothes. Regina snickers and hops out while Aaron eases Cady awake again. Damian is behind the truck, opening it up and searching for what he brought.

Janis snorts when she returns and sees Gretchen’s current task. She unlocks the front door for people. Damian grabs Regina’s suitcase, slinging the strap over his shoulder. “Damian, I’ve got this,” Regina says, holding her hand out.

“It’s good,” he says, grabbing a box that has board and card games in it so she can’t be tempted to snatch it off his arm.

Regina rolls her eyes. “Orders from the boss, huh?”

Damian shrugs, walking away without answering, which is an answer in and of itself. She grabs a couple pillows and goes inside. There’s a kitchen so small that there will only be one person allowed in it at any given time but there’s a working fridge and a stove of questionable usability so she’s counting her blessings.

She’s a little shocked that there are 2 bedrooms to it with how tiny outside of the building is but that quickly disappears when she sees that there’s about a foot of space on the 3 sides of the full-sized bed that not touching the wall.

There’s a couch in the main area and a nook behind a floral curtain with a second couch. There are only 2 windows for that room. One is small and partial covered by the radiator in the corner and the other is located in the corner of the nook. The walls are dark wood paneling, darkening the room significantly considering it’s a little after noon.

The main room leads out to a porch with dining table. Where the main room lacks windows, the porch excels, having 5 wide, tall windows overlooking the lake and sky.

Regina wanders out and glances around the porch, finding a cot to her right side. She truly begins to question the building’s design when she realizes that the nook window leads to the porch above the cot.

She is nearly confident that most of the space is being used for sleeping arrangements, not that she’d dare even joke about that. She was invited and she’s here and she’s thankful for that. Things are so much better than they were before.

She’s seen pictures of this place but it’s so different than she imagined. Fear bubbles in her gut at the thought that she gotten herself into a situation in a space as tiny as this is when she could still be a ticking time bomb of emotions. She isn’t sure what she’ll do if she gets overwhelmed since there’s nowhere to easily go to be alone.

She sits on the edge of the cot, setting the pillows beside her. She watches the water move, the way it crashes against the bank. She knows that she needs to calm down because everything will work out in the end. She’s so distracted that she doesn’t notice anyone approaching.

Janis taps her bicep with her hip. Regina jumps, elbowing her thigh. Janis flashes her a grin. “Your bag’s in the first room near the bathroom. Choose your roommate wisely cuz you’re sharing that bed,” she says quietly.

“So that’s why Damian got marching orders with my stuff,” Regina says.

“Yeah, well, you need a bed. That was nonnegotiable. Dam and I get the other bed so we’re off the table,” Janis says.

“And you call me soft,” Regina teases.

“Fuck off. Actually? Sleep on the ground outside for all I care,” Janis scoffs.

“I’d prefer the bed. Hey, Janis?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you.”

Janis nods. “You can stay here while we unpack if you’d like,” she offers.

“I wouldn’t but I don’t know what I can do,” Regina says.

“Wanna get my painting shit? My easel, stool, and canvases are behind the bench in truck. I should only need one canvas for now though. You can set it by that door,” Janis requests, pointing at the second door that leads off of the porch.

Regina obeys. It’s the least she can do. She finds her paints too and leaves them near the rest.

She stops Gretchen and Karen, pulling them aside before they can get too comfy. “I’ve been gifted a bed. Would you like to trade off on certain days or is one of you hoping for it the entire time?”

“I can share,” Karen replies.

“Same here. Would you like the bed tonight?” Gretchen offers.

“Sorta,” Karen admits.

“Ok. Then it’s mine tomorrow,” Gretchen says.

“Great. Then that settles that,” Regina says.

***

After around an hour of being there, Janis gathers them to have some lunch together. “Ok so now that we’re sort of unpacked, grocery time. Or at least it’s time to talk about what groceries we want before some of us go since we don’t all have to. What kinds of food do we want?” she asks, pulling out a lined notebook and blue pen from one of her large jacket pockets.

Everyone tosses out their ideas while Janis writes down a list. They try to not overwhelm her and take their turns, raising their hands as they think of things.

Once they finish coming up with stuff, Janis sticks the list back in its original pocket. “Sick, so, Damian, my delightful second in command, will remain here while I go out. Anyone who wants to come, come. Anyone who wants to stay, stay.”

To no one’s surprise, Damian is crowded while Janis grabs her keys. “I shouldn’t be long,” she says.

Regina stands and puts her shoes back on. Janis smirks at her. “What?” Regina asks.

“You sure you don’t want to stay and swim?”

“Well, we are here for a week. I’m certain I’ll have the time.”

Janis snorts. She waves at Damian as she opens the door. “Call me if anyone drowns.”

“Expect a call within 30 minutes then,” he jokes. She flips him off. “Love you too, babe!”

***

Janis lets Regina push the cart once they get to the store. While Regina yawns, tired from their early start, Janis sticks a finger in her mouth. She clamps her jaw down on it for a second, just hard enough to warn her but not to actually hurt. “Ooo, she’s a biter,” Janis says tauntingly.

“Fuck off. Stick your finger in my mouth again and the number of digits you possess will turn odd,” Regina huffs.

"I’m already odd, bro. Why would it bother me if my fingers were too?”

“Dumbass,” Regina deadpans.

Janis bows teasingly. “Princess.”

Regina ignores the fluttering in her belly at the action. She rolls her eyes and grabs multiple packs of marshmallows. Janis laughs. “Are we stocking up for the apocalypse?” she jokes.

“We have 2 dudes that will eat anything and everything and we were talking about having at least 2 campfires.” Regina pushes the cart about a foot before stopping again. She grabs another pack, pointing at Janis. “And don’t you dare try to tell me that you won’t challenge Karen to the chubby bunny challenge. I know both of you too well.” 

“You think you know me too well, huh?” Janis asks daringly.

“Yes, and you scare me.”

“Then why volunteer to shop with me if I’m so scawy?” Janis teases, poking at her side repeatedly with both her index fingers.

Regina swipes her arm down to stop the incessant poking. “We needed at least one adult on this trip,” she says, holding back a chuckle.

Janis cackles, shoving her shoulder lightly. “That’s valid.”

“So Aaron told me that you were the one that offered up the idea that I be on this trip,” Regina says hesitantly, inspecting the way the aisle is stocked to avoid looking at her.

“Do you have a problem with the fact that I was the one that came up with it?” Janis asks, raising her eyebrow at her.

“No. I’m just surprised. I thought I’d be the last person you’d want on your “last hurrah” trip.”

Janis shrugs, smirking slightly. “Well, this is probably one of last chances we’ll get to do something like this. I wanted to bring all of my friends along for it.” She grabs a couple boxes of graham crackers. “And all my friends included you, I guess.”

“I’m your fwiend?” Regina asks, teasingly imitating Janis. “Soft.”

“Shut up.” Janis checks her phone quick. “Oh shit. Let’s hurry it up, grandma. Actually, I’m pretty sure both of my grandmas move faster than you and one of them’s dead.”

“Get bent. You’re moving just as slow.”

“Touché.” Janis smirks at her. Regina hates that the flutter returns but she doesn’t have long to linger on it because Janis turns back to her with a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Heads up.”

Something flies towards Regina’s face and she catches it. Oatmeal. Rage bubbles in her gut, flaring out to her entire body. “Are you for real?” she hisses, tossing it in the cart.

Janis pats herself down a couple times. “Unfortunately for you, it would appear so.”

Regina realizes that that isn’t an appropriate reaction. She grips the cart tightly as she takes a couple deep breaths.

She reminds herself that nothing is coming at her, that Janis meant nothing by it, that she wasn’t trying to embarrass her. She is safe.

And then she’s calm.

She pushes the cart forward and bumps Janis’s hip with her own. “What else is on our list?” she asks as she peers over Janis’s shoulder.

She sees why Janis was teasing her for being slow. They’ve still got a long way to go. No better time than the present, she thinks as she grabs the next thing.

***

Regina puts everything away while Janis brings in the bags. Janis squeezes her shoulder gently once everything’s in. “Do you mind if I get ready to join everyone? I’d help but...” She gestures to the tiny amount of space that Regina is already struggling with.

“Go ahead. I’ll be done in few if you want to wait up,” Regina replies.

“M’kay.”

Janis closes her bedroom door. Regina focuses on finishing unloading, rather than giving into another spiral of nervousness surrounding what could happen this weekend.

After all, it has been over a month since she’s truly lost her cool and that time wasn’t nearly as bad as she would have if she hadn’t learned healthier coping skills.

Things will be ok. They have to be.

Janis comes out in a plain black bikini top and a pair of rainbow swim trunks. Regina stops in her tracks. Her insides feel like they’re inside out, twisting and turning in a pleasantly warm way.

She’s so fucking hot.

Dammit, she’s been doing better about letting those kinds of thoughts about Janis slip through. She can’t like her like that. She knows that there’s no way that Janis could or would ever feel the same. Not with their history.

Janis crosses her arms over her chest. “What? Is my tit out or something?” she asks, a fierce bite to her voice.

“No,” Regina manages to force out despite feeling as if her mouth is filled with sand.

“Then what’s wrong?” Janis pushes.

“Nothing. I’m going to get ready quick if you’d still like to wait for me,” Regina says as casually as she can now that she’s beginning to recover from the gay shock of seeing that much of Janis.

Janis takes a moment to decide but ultimately nods before flopping down on the couch. Regina goes to her room and closes the door behind her. She digs through her bag for her hottest swimsuit to change into. She walks out and Janis perks up.

Her eye contact is intense and maintained but Regina knows why. She knows Janis is still terrified to look anywhere else, to make a girl uncomfortable, to give any credit to any rumor made about her. She knows it’s, at best, partly, and, at worst, all her fault.

She should have thought that one out a lot better.

She does her best to avoid the sick guilt that she feels whenever she remembers what she put her through. “You ready?” Janis asks.

“Not yet. I need to get sunscreen on.”

Janis hops up and turns around a few times like a dog chasing its tail. “Same. Shit. Where’s the stupid fucking...” She trails off when Regina holds up the bottle in her hand, shaking it gently.

“Here?”

“Yeah. Whoops.”

Regina and Janis pass it back and forth until the only parts left are their backs. They stand, staring it each other in some sort of strange game of chicken, waiting for the other to speak first.

"Do you need help?” Regina asks. Janis nods mutely. “Are you comfortable with me helping?” Janis nods again. “Okay.”

Regina applies the lotion on Janis’s skin as she stiffens under her touch. Regina is mindful of her words that nearly slip out when that happens. Karen is fine with getting teased when she does that but this is so different than that.

This isn’t because it’s cold or it tickles. This is fear. Teasing Janis for tensing up when she’s the one that made her feel the need to be on this kind of high alert is a bitch move and she refuses to fuck this up further than she already has.

She finishes, tapping her shoulder gently. “Done.”

“Ok. Thank you.”

“Are you comfortable getting mine? I can ask Gretch if you aren’t. No pressure,” Regina says.

Janis shakes her head. “No, no. It’s good.”

Janis is careful with a feather light touch, avoiding hips and the sensitive areas of her ribs. “That was ok, right?” she asks timidly.

“Yeah.”

“No bad touches?”

“It’s my back, not my chest. You’re fine,” Regina snorts.

“No. I meant, like, I didn’t hurt you or whatever, right?” Janis rubs at her neck nervously.

“I’m not made of glass. I don’t break that easily,” Regina replies.

“Fair enough. You good now?” Janis asks, waiting for an answer without moving for the door. Regina nods. Janis smirks. “Let’s roll.”

They go out together. Janis tosses her towel at a chair and runs down the dock, jumping in at the very end while Regina walks out into the water to their friends.

Janis swims over, shoving her drenched hair from her eyes. She clears her throat. “Did Dam mention the boats?”

“Dammit. I did not.”

“Ok. The row boat there and the paddle boat there are free game,” Janis says, pointing them out. “If anyone wants to go on a ride, they can. There’s a box with life jackets over there,” she says, pointing towards plastic cabinet on the shore.

Karen looks at Gretchen. Gretchen nods slowly, more like accepting her fate than agreeing to anything. “Looks like we’re going on a boat ride. See you later.”

Karen waves before dashing off, Gretchen slowly trailing. Janis shakes her head while the 2 girls aren’t looking. “Does she seriously always have this much energy or is she going to level out in a day or two?”

“That’s what you’re getting all week. Going along with Karen often feels like trying tiring out a puppy,” Regina jokes.

The girls return with life jackets on. Karen practically leaps in to the row boat, somehow remaining graceful and well balanced. She reaches up, stabilizing Gretchen while she gets in.

Gretchen is decidedly less graceful, shakily clamoring in and nearly falling on Karen as she steps down. Karen sits on the main area, rowing them away.

“Karen!” Aaron calls out while they’re still near the rest of them.

“Yeah?”

“Remember that you need strength to get back! Only go half as far as you can go and then come back!”

Karen pulls an oar into the boat to safely flash him a thumbs up. She shoves it back out and keeps rowing.

Damian clicks his tongue. “She’s going to be so sore.”

“Karen defies all logic. She’ll probably want to bring someone else out there with her later tonight,” Cady says.

“And who’s going to give in?” Aaron asks playfully.

Cady flicks the water off her hand at him. “Shut up.”

Damian stretches his arms above the water and sighs. “Not to sound like a dude but what are we doing for dinner?”

“It’s 3:30,” Janis states.

“That has no correlation to anything and you know it,” he huffs.

Janis rolls her eyes. “I know. I don’t know. I think we should save a fire for another night. Maybe, like, burgers or something?”

“Did you get the-”

“The watermelon and grapes? The things you tried to put on the list 3 times? Did I get those? No. Didn’t even think about them.”

“Hey now,” Damian whines.

“They’re in the fridge chilling. I made sure of it,” Janis replies with a grin.

“She did. Twice,” Regina adds.

“You guys are amazing. You know that, right? I could kiss you both,” Damian says.

“Yup,” Regina says, awkwardly tossing up a peace sign in response.

“Ew.” Janis scrunches her nose up. “Keep that icky PDA to yourself. I am a child of god and I cannot abide letting anyone in past the room I’ve left for Jesus.”

“Oh, you’re a child, alright,” Cady teases.

“Hey, no fair. Regina, stand up for me!” Janis whines.

“What would I do that?” Regina snorts.

“Because we had a nice, long family bonding day and you want to be on my good side,” Janis whines.

“Ok. She was very organized in that store and kept me on task.”

“So, what I’m hearing is that Janis is more mature than you. That’s not saying much for yourself, Gina,” Aaron teases.

Regina huffs in faux offense. She splashes him and he splashes back.

By the time Karen and Gretchen get back, there’s an all-out water battle while everyone shouts out unmalicious roasts.

They cut it out the moment they realize that their friends have returned. Aaron and Janis help them dock the boat before they get out to dry off.

Aaron preps the grill with Cady while the rest hang out on the play equipment as they chat and calm down. They go in and get dressed, one by one cycling through the bathroom to change, avoiding tracking water around the cottage.

Aaron passes off grilling responsibility to Cady for couple minutes while he changes, quickly jogging back out once he’s done.

Dinner goes smoothly, save for the near food fight Damian halfheartedly threaten Janis with when she dips a piece of his watermelon in the glob of ketchup and mayo that fell out of his burger.

Regina offers to wash the dishes while everyone hangs out and no one protests. Cady wanders in while she’s drying. “You wanna play?” she asks as she pulls out the drawer near her hip.

“Play what exactly?” Regina asks back, slinging the towel over her shoulder.

“Spoons.”

“Who else is playing?”

“Gretchen would rather read and Janis, draw, but the rest of us are.”

Regina smiles. “You know Karen’s going to annihilate you guys, right?”

“I figured,” Cady says, casually shrugging.

Regina grabs the number of spoons necessary. “I’m in. Just give me a few to finish up.”

“Alright. I’ll tell the rest.” Cady bounds out to the porch.

***

She was right. She was so right. Karen doesn’t lose a single round as she manages to sneak a spoon out of the center undetected every freaking time or shoot her hand out to snatch the last one faster than anyone else.

At this point, Regina knows that she shouldn’t be surprised at how quick and stealthy Karen can be, yet she still is.

Gretchen's soft snort of laughter when she peeks up from her book every now and again becomes a warning to grab a spoon ASAP. Janis settles in next to her while she draws, occasionally whispering commentary.

The vile jealous wave flowing in Regina’s veins makes her want to snap at Gretchen.

She holds it back. It’s not Gretchen’s fault she feels this way. She doesn’t deserve any backlash for talking to a friend.

Sometimes she really hates herself for considering the shit that runs through her mind for retaliation. There’s not even something to retaliate for!

Janis turns her sketch book towards Gretchen, who smiles. Regina forces herself to glance away. The table has no more spoons.

Fuck. That’s fucking great.

And she’s getting far too worked up. She steps back from it, opting to color in one of the multiple coloring books Damian and Cady brought. It’s animal skeletons and screams Janis picked it.

She gets into her zone, focusing in on not coloring outside the lines of the tiny, fine edges of the picture. Blonde locks tickle her cheek as Janis leans over her. “That’s one of my favorite books. No lie, I’ve got, like, 3 exact copies of it at home,” she says, sitting in the chair by her.

“Yeah?” Regina stares at the bird skull surrounded by roses that she’s coloring in.

Yeah, that tracks.

Janis nods and glances out at the lake. “Are you having a good time?”

“I am. Just so long as you don’t fling grapes at me,” Regina says.

Janis chuckles lowly. Her gut burns at the sound. “That’s what she said.”

“That doesn’t even make sense.”

Janis smirks. “Maybe not to you.”

“Let me know if I'm overstepping but I saw you show Gretchen what you were drawing. Do you mind if I see it?”

“Is that why you got so grumpy so fast?” Janis teases, bumping her leg with her knee playfully.

“It was that noticeable?” Regina asks, forcing back a cringe at how absurd that must have seemed.

Janis shrugs. “Eh. I know you hate being left out of shit. One sec.” She shuffles through a couple pages, angling the book away from Regina’s sight. She stops on one and shows it to her. “Here’s my current problem child. Can’t get the fucking jawline right.”

It’s a fairly realistic drawing of Damian from right below his eyes to his shoulders. It is bizarre how close she’s gotten it to look like picture of him. “That’s astonishing,” Regina lets slip before registering the words

“Not my best but thanks anyways.”

“How is that not your best? That’s so...” Regina shakes her head. “It’s perfect.”

Janis clicks her tongue. Gretchen snorts in the background and spoons scatter off the table within seconds.

Janis’s knee juts over again, this time resting against Regina’s thigh. She doesn’t stop her, rather she leans her own leg into the comforting contact as she goes back to coloring.

They stay like that for at least 20 minutes, neither calling the other out on them allowing it. Janis occasionally shifts so Regina is certain that she’s aware of what she’s doing.

She rues to admit just how disappointed she felt to lose the simple touch when Janis stands to refill her water bottle. They don’t sit next to each other for the rest of the night.

***

Regina has trouble getting to sleep, her mind still racing from everything that happened today. Especially now that there’s no denying the fact that her crush on Janis is reemerging fast and hard and she has nowhere to run and no one to talk about it to.

She’s here and she has no clue how or why with all she’s done. She knows she isn’t 100% trusted by anyone and doesn’t blame anyone but she’s starting to get a little bit uneasy with that knowledge.

God, Janis must have thought she was staring at her in her bathing suit to judge her and not transfixed by her utter beauty. Her actions must have come across so wrong and not at all how she meant for them to be interpreted. She’ll have to fix that but tomorrow since she isn’t chancing waking the others up to make things right right now.

She isn’t telling her the truth about why though, is she? Because “hey, I’m gay and you’re hot” isn’t the best of apologies.

Whatever. It’s waited this long. It can wait a couple more hours and she can come up with something more palatable in that timeframe.

She sighs to herself, rolling from her belly to her side. Karen rolls over to face her. “Did something happen with Janis?”

Regina blinks. Is this girl a mind reader or something? “No. Nothing happened.”

“Is that the problem then?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she snaps.

“I dunno. I was just asking. You seem like you have a lot on your mind,” Karen says, shrugging into her pillow.

Regina sighs. “It’s nothing.” She scoots a little closer to her and away from the edge. “Just... I still struggle to believe that anyone wants me along after everything that I’ve done, that it isn’t an intimidation tactic and I’m truly wanted.”

“Did you intimidate anyone to come along?” Karen asks, readjusting her head on her pillow.

“Not on purpose.” Regina cringes at how pathetic she sounds.

“Well, everyone here seems glad that you’re here too so I’m pretty sure you’re wanted.” Karen’s smile can be heard clearly, despite the darkness.

“I guess so. Thank you for that.”

“No problem.”


End file.
